‘Lill! Lill, I—unng!’
Ella’s cry woke me up in the middle of the night. Shooting up from the cot I had insisted be brought into her room, I hurried over to her bed.
‘What’s wrong? Are you—Ella!’
She was lying on her side, convulsing and shuddering. Her hands were clamped over her stomach, and probably not because she felt peckish.
‘Lilly, I…’
She couldn’t bring herself to say it. That was no problem. After two years with Mr Ambrose, I was an expert in silent conversation. Striding over to the corner, I grabbed a beautiful enamelled vase filled with lilies, and held it under her nose.
‘Here.’
‘Lil! I can’t possibly—’
‘Oh yes you can. They won’t mind. Trust me, I’m a Lilly, and I’d be honoured to have you puke all over me.’
Another fit shook Ella, but to judge by the noise coming from her throat, this time it wasn’t coming from the urge to vomit.
‘Dammit, Lilly! Not fair! Don’t…can’t laugh…not now!’
A smile tugged at one corner of my mouth. ‘Did I hear you right? Did you, Miss Ella of Properville in the County of Politetington just curse? How shocking! Now go ahead and puke on the lilies.’
‘You…youuumphrgxxmphrrrg!’
Delicately, I looked away while Ella provided some flowers with fresh fertilizer. When the noise finally began to subside, I glanced down. Ella was staring up at me, her eyes wide with fear.
‘What’s happening to me?’
‘I don’t know.’
But I promise you, I’ll do my damnedest to find out! Even if that means I have to drag every single doctor in Bath to you by the scruff of his neck!
I didn’t say that out loud, though. For some strange reason, threats of violence against innocent bystanders had never had the same soothing effect on my little sister as on me. Instead, I just knelt down and took her in my arms.
‘Lill, don’t! What if whatever I’ve got is catching?’
I smiled at her grimly. ‘Then I’d better find a bloody good doctor, hadn’t I?’
Things didn’t improve during the night. Ella’s stomach was more busily rebelling than William Wallace and Spartacus put together. After half an hour, I had to ask for another vase, and then another. The maid was truly touched I liked her room decoration so much I got her in the middle of the night to bring me more.
‘Here you go,’ I told Ella, handing her the newest vase.
‘Lill – why does that one have flowers in it, too?’
I shrugged. ‘I thought as long as you had to vomit, you might as well enjoy the view.’
‘Thanks so murgrxmph…!’
‘You’re welcome.’ I smiled a half-hearted smile and reached forward to pull her hair out of her face.
Sometime around three o’clock, the vomiting finally let up—but not for lack of trying. There simply wasn’t anything left to deposit in flower vases. I sat by my little sister’s bedside, holding her clammy hand as dry heaves wracked her and shudders ran up and down her body.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ she whispered into the darkness.
They hadn’t told her?
One look in her face was enough to answer the question. No, they had not told her! I opened my mouth to utter the dreaded word—but then hesitated. Could I be really sure? After all, I was no doctor. How could I know for certain what sickness had grabbed hold of her?